Controller



R. EHRENFELD AND N. HANSEN.

CONTROLLER.

APPUCATION FILED 00h17, 19m.

1,390,5 1 5 Patented Sept. 13, 1921.

'lf-I of lEig. 2, showing strueted in accordance with our`1nvent1on;

.movable member 2, and a RALPH nHmilNrnLn ND NIELS HANSEN., 0F WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA,

ASSIGNORS TO WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC 6i'. MANUFACTURING CQMPANY, A.

CORPORATON OIE PENISYLVANIL..

CONTROLLER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Putenhgd Sept. 13, 1921.

' Application led October '17, 1913. Serial No. 258,553.

To'oZZ whom it muy` concern Be 1t known that We, RALPH EHRENFELD,

'a citizen of the United States, and a resident of lll'illrinsburg, in the county or" Allegheny and Stute of Pennsylvania., and Nuns iler@ sins, n subject of the King or Denmark, and a resident of Wilkinsbur in the county oi' Allegheny and State of ennsylvauia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Controllers, ol' which 4the following is e specific-ation.

Qur invention relates to controllers adapteed for use in connection v'with electric motors of small horsepowenend it has for its object to provide apparatus ot the character designated which shall be neat end finished in appearance, inexpensive tomanufaeture, simple in construction and strong end durn able in operation.

Heretofore, it has been customary to m unt the controller of e sewing machine either on the treadle of the machine or inde pendent-ly, but the'controllers built for one type of mounting could not be used for the other type' of mounting.

By our invention, We provide a controller which may be mounted either on the treedle of the machine or separately and in which each part of the controller is s. complete unit by itself and may, therefore, be easily re placed when necessary.

Referring lto the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view, partially in plan and partially in section, teken elongthe line a controller con- Fig. 2 is a, sectional vieu1 of' the controller shown in Fig. 1, taken along the line II-II thereof; Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line DIL-lll or' Fig; l and show ing the movable arm in its operative positiongnnd Fifl is :i sectional View along-the line IV-I of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the draw'- ing, our controller comprises a stationary member l and a movable member 2, both of which. are mounted on a pressed steel base 3. VThe stationary member l comprises two currentlimiting members l and 5, a plurality of contact fingers 6 which engage the current-limiting members Il and and also engage a contact-making portion 7 of: the cover member 8 which is mounted on the base member 3 and insulating members 16 as incioses the currentdimiting members lland 5, the contact fingers G and the contact-mali ing portion 7 of the movable n'iember 2.

Each oi'f, th"e end comprises a coil tively high resistance and a supporting oar l0 formed of refractory insulating material. The contact fingers 6, as best shown in Fig.

4, are mounted upon a supporting oase 11 composed of insulating' materiel which, in turn, is mounted upon supports 'l2 that are integral with the insulating support l0. The eontectmaking lingers 6 are resilient and one end 13 oi' each Tof them engages the resistance wire of a' current-limiting member. The other end lli of each finger d engages the contact-making end 7 of the movable member .2. v

The movable member Q is pivotally mounted upon tongues 15 which are punched from the pressed-metal base Wai-diy. The contact end 7 of the movable member 2 consists or a mein body portion composed of pressed 'metal'upon each side of which is mounted s. strip of insulating materiel l@ bearing metallic contact plates 17, connected together by metal rivets 18.'

The ends l/l of the contest lingers 6 are current-limiting members i 9 of Wire o rela-A 3 and bent up so positioned as to engage the insulating members 16 at all times when not engaged by the conducting plates i7, during operation of the -motor (not shown). By this arrangement, the Contact lingers are held against the insulating members at s relatively iight pressure but engage the Contact members li' at a relatively higher pressure, which is very desirable 'for good contact.

Also, by this arrangement, a very good Contact is made with. a; minimum movement of the Contact lingers, and the possibility of the contact arm being engaged by the ends of the Contact lingers, thus preventing i's operation, is precluded. it will, be understood that the Contact members i7 may be mounted in recesses in the insulating materiel 1G so that the metallic surface and `the insulating surface are ilush, the pressure of the Contact fingers causing a. good Contact to be established therewith.

The contact fingers 6 are all of substantially the same length and shape, and the contact ijilates 17 are so positioned upon the to malte successive engagement with the contact fingers when of course,

the member 2 is actuated. By this arrangement,'the assembly and the manufacturing cost ofthe Contact lingers are greatly reduced; v f

The cover` member'B isA provided with a flange 19 which engages flanges-i2() punched from the ressedanetal base member 3 on each side'tereof. The cover member 8, loeing of pressed metal, is easily sprung to cause the flanges. 19 to extend` beneath the tongues 20, thus providing a firm and rigid connection and causing the controller to present a neat and finished appearance.

When the controller' is Iindependently mounted, the movable member 2 is operated by exerting pressure upon a foot pedal 21, thus causing the contact plates 17 to eno'age the contact fingers 6 in succession. hen it is desired'to mount the controller upon the treadle of a sewing machine, the member 3 is attached thereto by means of bolts, not shown,*extending` throughopenings 22 therein, and a chain (not shown) extends from the table portion of the sewing machine (not shown) to an opening 23 in the con tact-making end of the movable member 2, sothat pressure exerted upon the treadle member ol the sewingY machine will cause the contact plates 17 to engage the Contact tingers in the manner previously described.

Throughout this specification and the claims, the word Limle'pendent should be deined as free from the treadle.

While we have shown but one form of our invention. it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited but is susceptible ot various minor changes and modiications without departing from the spirit thereof, and we desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or are specifically setforth inthe appended claims.

lVe claim as our invention: l

l. ln a controller, a movable member comprising1 a piroted lever provided with an insulating surface, a plurality of resilient contact lingers adapted to normally engage said insulating surface at a relatively light pressure, and a plate of conductingjmaterial mounted on said insulating surface to engage said contact lingers at a relatively heavy pressure upon movement of said lever.

A tenacia 2. A controller comprising a resistor consisting` of a resistance wire wound. upon an insulating support, a plurality of contact ingers mounted upon a separate insulating base and adapted to engage Said resistance wire, and a movable contact member disposed to engage the other ends of said con'- tact lingers.

3. A controller comprising a plurality of contact fingers of substantially equal length mounted upon a flat surface in a substantially straight line, and a movable member adapted to engage said contact fingers and pivotally mounted near onevend of said line ot" Contact ingers,'said movable member being disposed at an angle to said fiat surface when engaging said contact fingers.

4. In a controller, a plurality of resilient stationary Contact members, a movable mem-- ber comprising a pivoted arm, a plate composed ol insulatmg material mounted on each side 'of said arm and normally in engagement' with said contact members, and a conductingr plate mounted on each of said insulating plates and adapted to engage said contact members upon actuation of the movable arm.

5. A controller comprising two spaced side-by-side resistors, a plate composed et insulating material mounted adjacent said resistors, two spaced rows of resilient @om tact members mounted on said plate and having one end in engagement with one of said resistors and having the other end free, the free ends of the two rows of Contact members being spaced apart, and a movable contact member .adapted to move between and to engage said rows of free ends.

G. ln a controller, a movable element comprising an arm pivoted intermediate its ends 'and means for normally retaining said arm in a predetermined position, one end of said arm being adapted to receive pressure to actuate the same and the other end of said arm being adapted to receive a pull or tension to actuate said arm.

ln testimonyv whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names this 30th clay of Sept., i918. i'

RALPH EHRENFELD. NIELS HANSEN. 

